Bubble

I live in a bubble.

Like a lot of writers, I spend an inordinate amount of time alone. Well, it's what passes for alone with Demon Baby and three other kids. I live in my head a lot, and sometimes, I have to say, I feel much safer there.

Oh, I venture out. I got a call yesterday that the local food bank is in serious trouble. Turning people away. So yeah, a food drive is immediately in order. I have my friends. But very often, if you feel as sensitive as a tuning fork or a divining rod, you learn to stay where you feel it's safe. For me, that safe spot is more often teaching ESL to immigrants or going to the food bank than it is at social events with people who seem to have so much and give so little--and worse, seem to define strange values for the children, who are meaner than snakes sometimes.

So into my little arrangement in the world comes being a writer. I haven't Googled myself in well over a year, maybe more. Two years? I don't even know. Maybe even longer than that. Occasionally, Oldest Daughter will tell me something (like there is a fan page for me on Facebook, which is very cool). But generally, the bubble system works fine--for real life and for publishing life.

I answer every email I receive from readers--so it's not like I don't respond at all. I answer them all, even the ones who occasionally "yell" at me (got one of those two weeks ago from someone who was not happy about an ending). So yesterday . . . JVZ sent me this link.

That sound you heard yesterday was, I am sure, collective shock in the book world. Breaking Dawn came out, and the fan reviews are largely heinous. Don't read the reviews if you don't want spoilers--but you can see the breakdown on ratings. It's not even like they are breaking down into a bunch of mid-range reviews. Meyer's fans either like it--or overwhelmingly LOATHE it. Not just a middle-of-the road "meh." They HATE it. I read the spoilers (of course, I did! I read last pages of books first), and I would say that I can totally get where the angry ones are coming from.

And I gotta wonder what that must be like. Does she know? I would guess yes. Her publisher's got to be freaking out. The people who are bringing out the MOVIE of the first one can't be thrilled.

Now, on the one hand, as of this writing, over a thousand people have already reviewed it. It's number 1 on Amazon. But I wonder what the author owes her readers to give them the ending they wanted or needed. Should authors live in a bubble of their own choosing, completely unswayed by fans? There are readers seriously questioning if she even wrote the book.

Even if you are not published yet, I wonder . . . would you be prepared for THAT kind of reaction? I know I wouldn't. I have a hard enough time when readers yell at me--and that's me getting maybe twenty or thirty emails a week (when I don't have a new release), and maybe once a month someone gives me grief. I like my bubble just fine, thanks. I have a November release from Red Dress Ink. I already know there are going to be mad people. You don't make God a woman and have no one react. You sure as heck don't mock the Hail Mary football pass (involving betting and the Virgin Mary). You don't have demons who like sushi and angels who like a shot of whiskey. You don't stick Albert Einstein in drag. You just don't--and not expect to hear from SOMEONE whose sensibilities you have seriously pissed off.

So thoughts? I know some writers are like, "I would just be thrilled to have Meyer's kind of money and her number of readers." But I don't know. Could you stand people sort of uniformly being furious at you? In real life it's hard enough--but this is your BOOK. It's your BABY!

Discuss.